Terminology and Definitions
Please find a list of many commonly used words in the digital marketing and operations industry.
Advertorials: As delivery has gotten harder, many companies have looked to present advertisements in a more newsletter like manner. For example, they may write a fashion article about a piece of clothing they are trying to sell. In doing so, many sought to drive fewer consumer complaints, and more recently, receive approval from Certification Programs. However, both ISPs and Certification Programs have wizened and are not as receptive to this model anymore.
Affiliate Marketing: Many companies leverage third party entities to optimize and execute their marketing strategies by offering monetary awards for leads and new customers. In e-mail, affiliates often maintain their own house lists and bandwidth and deploy e-mail campaigns to generate leads. This type of e-mail is typically considered commercial.
Certification Program: This is an independent organization that deems a domain or IP to be respectable and, consequently, ISPs should accept, by default, messages from it. Example organizations are Return Path’s Sender Score Certification and Goodmail. This enables mailers to avoid ISP filters, deal with a single point of contact, and apply for only one White List.
Commercial Email (E-Mail): A type of e-mail sent for commercial purpose. For instance, the e-mail may advertise a product or server, be an order confirmation, be a subscription update, or be an opt-out. It is important, though, to differentiate transactional commercial messages from advertisements, as the later is subject to additional requirements required by CAN-SPAM. Nevertheless, all e-mail is monitored from three angles to protect consumers and industry: (1) deception, (2) network and technological strain, and (3) costs imposed on the recipients. Unsolicited commercial e-mail is commonly referred to as SPAM.
Email Client: This refers to an application that is used to send, receive, or read e-mail messages. Example e-mail clients include Microsoft Outlook(TM), Thunderbird, etc.
Email Newsletter: Refers to first-party creative where the main component is information, articles, etc. Many companies leverage e-mail newsletters to display Banner advertising and drive web traffic to their website. An example of this would be a news update from your local TV station. Many companies have also tried to have gray newsletters that are really advertorials.
Email Server: A computer that maintains a process (often a service on windows machines) that is designed to connect to the MTAs of Internet service providers (ISPs, e.g. yahoo.com) to deliver e-mail messages. Large organizations find it necessary to maintain a network of dedicated e-mail servers so that they may deliver the necessary amount of messages in a timely fashion. Smaller organizations can survive on a shared service or by leveraging the technology of an email service provide (ESP, e.g. icontact.com)
List Broker: A list broker is a person or entity the engages as an intermediary between data owners and parties wanting to purchase or rent data. The benefit of a list broker is that they will have, if they are good, better vetted list sellers and maintain a large rollodex of people that do sell data. Obviously, there are additional costs when using a middle man though. It is very important that you trust a list broker and that they are ethical and respectable if you plan to e-mail the purchased date. Too often is data gathered using gray or blatantly bad practices which, in the end, will hurt your brand.
“One-Click” Unsubscribe: A common practice in which users can click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of an e-mail and they will be unsubscribed without further action. Many companies have moved away from this model and introduced preference centers to help limit list attrition. However, if not done properly, complications in the unsubscribe process can lead to increased complaints, and consequently, reduced delivery. One of my personal pet peeves is where I need to un-check boxes to remove myself from lists and then confirm those changes… very annoying.
Unsubscribe: The act of suppressing a record from future communication, thereby removing it from a list.